Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice

13 Saul was . . .^[a] years old when he began to reign; and he reigned . . . and two^[b] years over Israel.

² Saul chose three thousand men of Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gib′e-ah of Benjamin; the rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent. ³ Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines which was at Geba; and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” ⁴ And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

⁵ And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-a′ven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in straits (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, ⁷ or crossed the fords of the Jordan^[c] to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸ He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and salute him. ¹¹ Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, ¹² I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the Lord’; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you; for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel for ever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” ¹⁵ And Samuel arose, and went up from Gilgal to Gib′e-ah of Benjamin.

Preparations for Battle

And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶ And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who were present with them, stayed in Geba of Benjamin; but the Philistines encamped in Michmash. ¹⁷ And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shu′al, ¹⁸ another company turned toward Beth-hor′on, and another company turned toward the border that looks down upon the valley of Zebo′im toward the wilderness.

¹⁹ Now there was no smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears”; ²⁰ but every one of the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, or his sickle;^{[d] 21} and the charge was a pim for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.^{[e] 22} So on the day of the battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and Jonathan his son had them. ²³ And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

Israel’s Rejection Is Not Final

11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli′jah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ³ “Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have demolished thy altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” ⁴ But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ba′al.” ⁵ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, ⁸ as it is written,

⁹ And David says,

The Salvation of the Gentiles

¹¹ So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. ¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

¹³ Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness^[a] of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹ You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. ²³ And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Jonathan Surprises and Routs the Philistines

14 One day Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on yonder side.” But he did not tell his father. ² Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gib′e-ah under the pomegranate tree which is at Migron; the people who were with him were about six hundred men, ³ and Ahi′jah the son of Ahi′tub, Ich′abod’s brother, son of Phin′ehas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. ⁴ In the pass,^[a] by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. ⁵ The one crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.

⁶ And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” ⁷ And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that your mind inclines to;^[b] behold, I am with you, as is your mind so is mine.”^{[c] 8} Then said Jonathan, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. ⁹ If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. ¹⁰ But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. And this shall be the sign to us.” ¹¹ So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines; and the Philistines said, “Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hid themselves.” ¹² And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.” And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come up after me; for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.” ¹³ Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him; ¹⁴ and that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, was of about twenty men within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre^[d] of land. ¹⁵ And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked; and it became a very great panic.

¹⁶ And the watchmen of Saul in Gib′e-ah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude was surging hither and thither.^{[e] 17} Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Number and see who has gone from us.” And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. ¹⁸ And Saul said to Ahi′jah, “Bring hither the ark of God.” For the ark of God went at that time with the people of Israel. ¹⁹ And while Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines increased more and more; and Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” ²⁰ Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle; and behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion. ²¹ Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that time and who had gone up with them into the camp, even they also turned to be with^[f] the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²² Likewise, when all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill country of E′phraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too followed hard after them in the battle. ²³ So the Lord delivered Israel that day; and the battle passed beyond Beth-a′ven.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹⁷ On one of those days, as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.^{[a] 18} And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus;^{[b] 19} but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And when he saw their faith he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?” ²² When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose before them, and took up that on which he lay, and went home, glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi

²⁷ After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And he left everything, and rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table^[c] with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The Question about Fasting

³³ And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He told them a parable also: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is good.’”^[d]